Overview participating exhibitions

Der Aa-kerk2017

Maija Tammi

POST- (2015-2017)

In POST- Maija Tammi combines three projects about (im)mortality. From her series WHITE RABBIT FEVER, she shows immortal cancer cell lines. These are derived from among others the infamous cancer cells of Henrietta Lacks, who died in 1951. Cancer cell lines, unlike most human cells, do not age, they can keep dividing endlessly. Her images and video from VOLUNTEER 4 (HYDRA) show hydras, fresh-water polyps that are five to fifteen millimeters in length and also cannot age, making them biologically immortal. If they are cut into pieces, the individual parts are able to regenerate themselves into a fully-fledged animal. In this series, Tammi embraces the concrete possibilities for eternal life and the attempts to achieve this. The portrait of the android Erica, from ONE OF THEM IS A HUMAN, offers a different view on immortality and on the human escapist desire to outwit death.

Biography

Maija Tammi (Finland, 1985) gained a Master’s degree in Social Sciences at the University of Tampere, and is currently completing her studies in Design and Architecture at the Aalto University School of Arts, both in Finland. Her book Leftover/Removals was published in 2014. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in Japan, Finland, the United States and Germany. Both this year and last year, she was nominated for a Paul Huf Award. In 2015, she won the Grand Prize of PDN The Curator.